Govt moves to terminate contracts of 3 solar projects
The government has initiated a move to terminate three solar power projects having the total capacity of 282 MW as the sponsor companies have failed to mobilise required lands and funds.
The projects are 200 MW Teknaf Solar Park, 50 MW Sutiakhali Solar Park and 32 MW Sunamganj Solar Park, according to the people knowledgeable about the matter.
"We've already decided to terminate these projects as their sponsors failed to mobilise required lands and funds as per agreements signed with the government," Power Division joint secretary Mohammad Alauddin told UNB.
He said the Power Division took the decision to terminate the projects at a review meeting on 30 April.
US company SunEdison has been the sponsor of the 200 MW Teknaf project while Chinese company Herat-Ditrolic IFDC Solar is the sponsor of the 50 MW Sutiakhali and Edisun Power Point & Haor Bangla - Korea Green Energy Ltd is the 32 MW Sunamganj solar park project.
Officials said these companies have signed separate deals with the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) at different times to implement their projects.
As per the contracts, the sources said, SunEdison was supposed to complete their 200MW grid connected solar park project on 7 July in 2018, but the company could not start the work on the solar park for lack of fund.
They said SunEdison was declared bankrupt in the USA by a court due to its debt burden which put the company in a great trouble.
Power Division officials said SunEdison recently sought time extension from the PDB, but it issued an `Event of Default Notice` on October 15 last year instead of entertaining its appeal.
They said similar notice was also issued to Herat-Ditrolic IFDC Solar on May 17 this year due to its failure to make the financial closing of the 50 MW Sutiakhali Solar Park Project.
Another `Event of Default Notice` was issued to Edisun Power Point & Haor Bangla on 32 MW Sunamganj September 21 last year, the sources said.
Mohammad Alauddin said the issuing of Event of Default Notice is the part of a process of terminating the contracts with the sponsor companies.
"We're moving step by step to finally scrap the deals with the three companies as they failed to make any convincing progress about their respective projects," he added.
The government has taken a total of 19 solar power projects of total 1070 MW capacity which got the Prime Minister`s approval in principle as part of its plan to generate 10 percent electricity from renewable energy source by 2020.
Of these, power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed for only six projects of 532 MW, while nine projects of 483MW await the PPA signing and four are in the process of project selection committee.